Aboard a scuba diving boat off the east coast of Tico Island in the Philippines, my eyes kept turning to gaze upon Mount Mayon, reputed to be the world’s most perfectly cone-shaped volcano.  Although I was enjoying diving in the warm tropical water, I was looking forward to climbing Mt Mayon once the diving was finished. I thought about that trip today when I read the sad news that five climbers on Mount Mayon were killed by an eruption.

From a distance one would think that the slopes of the volcano are one long smooth ramp.  Once the hike starts, however, it becomes obvious that hiring an experienced guide was a prudent investment. Ben was my guide for the hike.  He lives at the base of the mountain where his small farm keeps him busy most days.  For several years the farm could not generate enough income for his family, though, so Ben resorted to working overseas.  The arrival of low-cost mobile service means that Ben can be contacted when some hapless tourist like me wants to climb the volcano.  Ben makes enough extra income from guiding climbers so that he is able support his family without needing to leave the country for extended periods to find work.

On the trail I met the only resident of the Philippines that was not nice to me, a water buffalo pulling a load of logs.  I don’t know if it was something I said but this guy was pretty snarly, so I gave him a wide berth.

Meanwhile back in Manila, the coffee shops and malls were filled with young people using their laptops and smartphones.  There, I had the pleasure to join  Sonny Halili and other great people from SAS Philippines in meetings with executives of Globe Telecom where we discussed the challenges of delivering both low-cost basic service to people like my new friend Ben, while also evolving to deliver next-generation service for today’s bandwidth hungry applications. Advanced analytics from SAS are helping Globe to deliver a great experience to every corner of the Philippines.